Greater Things (2 of 4)
Ancient-Future Faith – Speaker: Adam Davis (listen online here)
John 14.12 (The Message)
The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it.
Acts 11.26
It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.
Acts 2.42 & 44
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.
Acts 1.8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Elevate Church:
seeks to give a _fresh_ expression to the _ancient_ Christian faith
What is your next step to deepen your identity in Jesus?
For you, what does it mean to be part of a faith community?
Would you say you’re engaged in God’s mission to love the world?
If so,how?
What are the greater things you would like to do as part of Elevate Church?
Taking it further… read these verses; answer the
Galatians 2.20 (identity) questions above and take this
2 John 1.5 (community) to your eleven32 group this week
Matthew 28. 18-20 (mission)
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I love Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus told his disciples (and us) to “go and make disciples.” What I love about the first, ancient church is that they had an amazing understanding of how huge this was in order to truly carry out the words of Jesus. In the greek (the language in which this passage was written), the command better reads, “as you are going, make disciples.” This makes the action verb “make disciples.” This realization has been crucial in my understanding of how we are to do church as part of our “ancient-future faith.”
The GREATER THINGS here is that Jesus didn’t say “go and make converts to Christianity” No! It was much more. We are called to make DISCIPLES. This is much more involved and yeah, it’s messy too. It means we’re not just standing on the sidelines, but we’re getting involved in people’s lives.
I believe Elevate church is a church that is called to make disciples. Kudos to Lead Pastor Adam for that vision.
Interesting thought about this phrase “fresh expression of the ancient Christian faith.”
We can hold on to the TRUTH of the ancient Christian faith. That is awesome and a big part of elevate. But as Christians can we also tend to hold on to someone’s perspective of the TRUTH? What I mean by that is there are some concepts that we can hold on to that can limit us from experiencing the “fresh expression” of the real truth. We may think it is truth because it made sense at one time or you don’t know anything outside of that. Perfect example of this is Jesus and His conversations with the religious leaders. Jesus was bringing a fresh expression of the truth they already believed in. They didn’t want to accept it though because they were holding onto a different perspective of the truth. Now 2000 years later elevate church is trying to give a fresh expression of the ancient faith. Fresh expression is a changing thing, but real truth stays the same.
A fresh expression of the ancient Christian faith! I think God is all about this and the elevate community is just living this out. God is about doing something fresh everyday, but as Dave said the TRUTH remains the same. God brings a fresh wave of word or understanding but the TRUTH remains unchanged. We hold strong to the roots while growing new fresh branches.
I was introduced to your church through Katie via my son. I listened today and I just can say AMEN & AMEN. Pastor Adam’s vision I endorse wholeheartedly. I like your notes above. Here in the UK we are on an incredible journey over the last 22 months. A new Pastor came and it is like living a dream. Everything has changed for the better. A lot more people come and are active. His message is similar in many ways. You said two things amongst all the other, which agrees with me. One to be CONNECTED to a LOCAL CHURCH is so vitally important and that you want to help the people to find the right church. Connection to a VISION is so vitally important to make a difference in each City. It made me cry to listen to your message. Be blessed. Be encouraged. NEVER GIVE UP. Have you read: “The Barbarian Way” by Erwin R McManus? It talks about to ‘Unleash the untamed faith within’.
My favorite part of this reading is 2 John 1.5. It really sticks out that we need to love everyone (or as Elevate puts it, ELE). What really stood out to me though, was the part where it says “This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.” It is very true, the love commandment that Jesus puts out (love you Lord, love your neighbor as yourself) can be associated with each and every one of the “10 commandments” that were given in the OT.
It is great to see that even 2000 years ago, Jesus was not making new commandments, but giving a fresh expression to the ancient ones to his people.
So many great comments everyone – thanks for the input.
Beat: I have read Barbarian Way, its a book that exposes the mindset that says God invites us to safe places to do easy things – which is never the case. Glad to hear all the good things God is doing in your church. Thanks for listening all the way from the UK – tell Katie we say hi from Elevate!
Dave, Aaron, Ryan: right on!!
Justin: you can’t spell ELEvate without E.L.E.
Adam: Thanks for your comment. I guess you have read some of Rob Bell’s books, too. ‘Velvet Elvis’ etc. I will listen to other messages again. I look forward to listen to the 3rd and 4th installment. I also will listen to the first one soon. I am encouraging you to think BIG. Our church offers Internships for 1 year, 6 months or even short term monthly tasters. Maybe you know somebody who is looking for an exciting, intense and awesome time. One will have the opportunity to serve, develop the gifting. Plus lots more.
I pray God will give you wisdom to go forward, creating new leaders.
Luke 2v52 Jesus grew in wisdom, and stature, and in favour with God and men.
Be blessed
Beat
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